Robert Paine Scripps
by George J. Dance Robert Paine Scripps (October 27, 1895 - March 2, 1938) was an American poet, newspaper publisher, and philanthropist. Life Scripps was born in San Diego, California, the son of newspaper magnate Edward Willis Scripps, founder of the Scripps-McRae newspaper chain. He began working for the Philadelphia News-Post, a Scripps paper, in 1912 at age 16. In January 1914 he became an editor for the Scripps-owned San Diego Sun. In 1916 he travelled to Hawaii, where he became friends with writer Jack London, and Australia, where he worked for an Australian newspaper.Thomas Thurston, Scripps, Robert Paine - Bio of the day, H.Net Online, December 3, 2004. Web, July 31, 2015. In 1917 he married Margaret Culbertson, who would bear him 6 children. In May 1917 E.W. Scripps set up an office in Washington, D.C., and hired Robert Scripps to manage it. In July he made Robert became editor-in-chief of the Scripps-McRae chain, which prompted his older son, James McRae, to resign as chairman and take several newspapers out of the chain. After James died in 1921, E.W. Scripps dissolved Scripps-McRae, and in November 1922 turned over control of the newspapers to Robert Scripps and United Press president Roy Howard, who formed the Scripps-Howard chain. In 1926 Robert Scripps was an American delegate to the first International Press Conference held in Geneva, Switzerland, under the auspices of the League of Nations. In 1933 Scripps and Howard began negoitiating joint-operating agreements with independent newspapers (under which the papers would share printing presses, production facilities, advertising sales, and circulation offices while maintaining editorial and news-gathering independence). The first such agreement was signed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, followed by agreements in El Paso, Texas, and Evansville, Indiana. These joint-operating agreements are seen as Scripps' most lasting legacy, with similar agreements now in place in numerous American cities including Seattle, Tucson, Salt Lake City, Nashville,New Orleans, Honolulu, St. Louis, Detroit, Cincinnati, Knoxville,Pittsburgh, Columbus, San Francisco, and Atlanta. Scripps died of a hemorrhage while vacationing on his yacht off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Philanthropy Scripps was the son of E.W. Scripps and the nephew of Eleanor Browning Scripps, founding patrons of the Marine Biological Association of San Diego (now the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego).Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, July 17, 2015. Web, July 30, 2015. Scripps saved the Institute during the Depression, by more than doubling his family's financial support, and by arranging for the State of California to match the family's contribution.Robert Paine Scripps Forum for Science, Society and the Environment, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of San Diego. Web, July 30, 2015. Recognition In 1930 Scripps was honored by a committee of British publishers with a Walter Hines Page Fellowship, given to those who make outstanding contributions to journalism worldwide. He is commemorated by the Robert Paine Scripps Forum for Science, Society and the Environment, an oceanside conference center facility located at the Institute. Publications Poetry *''Verses of an Idle Hour. San Francisco: Paul Elder, 1917.Search results = au:Robert Paine Scripps, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, July 31, 2015. See also *List of U.S. poets References External links ;Poems *"Island Song" in ''Poetry ;Books *Robert Paine Scripps at Amazon.com ;About *Scripps, Robert Paine - Bio of the dayat H.Net Online Category:1895 births Category:1938 deaths Category:20th-century poets Category:American poets Category:American philanthropists Category:English-language poets Category:Poets